


It Started With A Cat Café

by xslytherclawx



Series: Cat Café Universe [23]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Cat Cafés, Established Relationship, Fluff, Future Fic, Jewish Character, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Moscow, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Victor Nikiforov is Extra, Yuri names cats after pop-punk singers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-20
Updated: 2017-06-30
Packaged: 2018-11-16 17:17:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11257365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xslytherclawx/pseuds/xslytherclawx
Summary: Yuri Nikolayevich Plisetsky had had one of the most illustrious careers in figure skating in world history. He’d retired after winning yet another gold (and after Katsudon retired, it was almost boring, winning gold after gold), and he was sure that everyone expected him to coach, like Victor and Katsudon. But instead Yuri was following another lifelong dream alongside his long-term boyfriend, Otabek Alexandrovich Altin.(Future fic, set in 2028; canon-compliant as of the end of season one)





	1. 2028

**Author's Note:**

> This was going to be a cute one-shot but GoodbyeBlueMonday and I kind of... developed a whole... universe around this. So expect more in this series, at least.

Yuri Nikolayevich Plisetsky[1] had had one of the most illustrious careers in figure skating in world history. He’d retired after winning yet another gold (and after Katsudon retired, it was almost _boring_ , winning gold after gold), and he was sure that everyone expected him to coach, like Victor and Katsudon. But instead Yuri was following another lifelong dream alongside his long-term boyfriend, Otabek Alexandrovich Altin.

It was a dream of Yuri’s ever since he’d gotten his best friend in the world, Puma Tiger Scorpion, when he was thirteen. Pyotya was getting on in years - she was now fourteen herself, and still an absolute princess. He and Otabek decided, when they discussed opening the café, to find a building in Moscow (because like hell was he staying in Petersburg, that confused pseudo-European mess of a city) with a storefront and an apartment which were connected. That way, he didn’t have to be too far from Pyotya and could check in on her throughout the day.

Yuri had decided to cook and serve traditional Russian food, but nothing too heavy. Pirozhki, pryaniki, bliny, delicious dark bread, buttery cookies, and cakes were their predetermined menu. [2] After all, it was Moscow, and Yuri would be damned if he’d start acting like a stupid European wannabe, too.

They adopted cats from the shelter. Yuri had wanted to adopt each and every one of them, but Beka had managed to restrain him, although Beka’d allowed him to get some of the less adoptable, but still very friendly cats. Cats who were older, mostly, although they’d gotten one blind cat, and one cat with three legs. After all, these cats would be loved and have a home, which was the important part.

They allowed the cats a few weeks to get settled in, although Yuri had already designed the Ultimate Cat Paradise, complete with lots of boxes and decals of vicious wild felines (because he knew, of course, that cats weren’t dumb cuddly babies - they were vicious predators that were affectionate toward their family), and then, on a date they’d determined months in advance, Yuri and Otabek opened their cat café.

They had a soft opening - Yurio and Otabek were internationally famous, and while it wasn’t _movie star_ famous, he still wanted their friends and family to get in first. Dedushka [3] came early (of course Yuri let him in) and praised the café, and brought over some of his own homemade pirozhki for Yuri and Beka to share later. Beka ran them upstairs while Yuri talked to his grandfather. After about fifteen minutes, Yuri’s grandfather had to leave to go back to work; Yuri was sorry to see him go, of course, but was grateful that he’d taken the time to stop by.

The café was due to open at eleven, and at quarter of, the two most disgustingly coupley people he’d ever met came over with their kids. Katsudon might be a trainer, but Yuri couldn’t help but notice that he’d put on a few pounds, and Victor may actually be losing hair now, although with the bangs covering his fivehead it was difficult to tell.

Still, Yuri appreciated them showing up. Their kids grew up with dogs, and were old enough to not manhandle the cats, although Katsudon kept a good eye on them. And it was a good test run the cats with small children, to make sure they didn’t need an age limit on their café.

“This looks really great, Yurio,” Katsudon said, surveying the place. Victor was off with their daughter, teaching her how to pet one of the cats.

“Well, it’s _my_ café,” Yuri said, ignoring the hated nickname. It was useless; he’d tried for over a decade to get Katsudon to fucking _stop_ , and to no avail. “And Beka’s, and Beka’s been really great about… y’know, being sensible and stuff, and not adopting every cat in the shelter.”

“You should do an event for the shelter,” Katsudon supplied helpfully, “to help get cats adopted. Especially since you came back to your hometown; everyone loves you here.”

That wasn’t a half-bad idea. “Maybe,” said Yuri.

“Ah, Sasha, no!” Katsudon collected the small boy, who had been trying to climb up onto one of the cat trees, in his arms. He gently turned the boy around, still holding him, until their eyes met. “Aleksandr Yurievich-Victorovich Katsuki-Nikiforov,[4] what have Papa and I told you about climbing?”

The boy, for his part, at least looked ashamed of himself. “Not to do it, To-san.”[5]

“Now what do we do?”

The boy squirmed to face Yuri. “Sorry, Yurio.”

Yuri frowned. “It’s _Yuri_ , but it’s okay, as long as it doesn’t happen again.”

Yuri felt a hand clasp his shoulder. He turned his head to see Victor. “Oh, Yurio, it’s okay; you’re their big brother! Sasha and Misha know you as Yurio.”

“You’re not my actual fathers,” Yuri said, sighing. “Don’t confuse them.” It was mostly for show. Of course, Victor and Katsudon weren’t his _fathers_ , but they had been important individually and together for many of Yuri’s defining moments. And, well, he wasn’t _actually_ annoyed that they referred to themselves in such a way, and he’d never had a relationship with his own real father, anyway. But he also didn’t want the kids asking him how he was so old when they were so little.

Katsudon, the smarter one, clearly, avoided a major incident by asking, “So, since it is almost lunch time, I think we could get something to eat; do you have menus yet?”

Yuri shook his head. “We have something better.” He gestured to one of the walls, which had been painted black and had a chalk menu, with illustrations of all of the cats (including their names) as well as the dishes.

Otabek chose that time to come downstairs, and was promptly tackled by a small child. “Uncle Beka!” Michiko squealed. Beka picked her up easily and hugged her.

“Okay, how is he _Uncle Beka_ , but I’m just _Yurio_?” Yuri asked Katsudon, who, again, had more sense than his husband.

“Victor views you as a son-like-figure and… I think calling Otabek uncle is just polite?” He didn’t sound very sure, although it was a fair response. And they certainly wouldn’t use patronymics for Otabek.

Victor and Katsudon settled down with their kids at one of the tables, in cushy chairs, and Otabek went over to take their order without so much as a look. It was probably better that way. Otabek was… less likely to curse in front of small children.

Yuri turned back to his grandfather when the door swung open again.

Of course.

Mila and Georgi were front and centre, dragging Yakov along with them. Mila stopped and cooed at one of the cats. “Yura, this one looks a little like Pyotya!”

“That’s Brendon,” he said. “Beka decided it’d be a good idea if we got all male cats, that way they’d get along better.”

“Brendon?” Mila repeated, the name foreign on her tongue.

Yuri felt himself flush slightly, but forced himself to say, “Like… Brendon Urie? From… Panic! at the Disco? And there’s… Patrick and Gerard and Frank and Chacha and Billie and Tyler.” He pointed out each cat’s portrait on the board. “Beka wanted to name Patrick Pete, but I told him that that wasn’t allowed. They’re all named after singers.”[6] 

Mila, to Yuri’s eternal horror, ruffled his hair. “No more cats named after other cats?”

“I was _thirteen_ ,” Yuri whined, trying to squirm away from Mila’s grasp. He knew she didn’t mean anything by it; she was more like an annoying older sister than anything, with emphasis on _annoying_ , but she didn’t ever actually want to _hurt_ him.

“Hey, it’s okay, at least you didn’t do an entire Grand Prix program about your ex,” Mila sing-songed.

“That was _one year_ !” Georgi protested. “And Yuri doesn’t _have_ an ex! And I dated Anya for as long as he’s been dating Otabek!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Mila said, rolling her eyes. “ _I_ will take some tea, and also a pirozhok.”

Yuri nodded; he didn’t need to write such a simple order down. “We have tea from the samovar or we have herbal.”

“I’m _Russian_ , Yuri.”

Yuri jerked a thumb at Victor. “He got peppermint tea.” Of course, Yuri was never sure if Victor counted as actually _Russian_ ; he was born and raised in St. Petersburg, anyway, and always claimed to be so cultured and Western.

“Fine, fine,” Mila huffed. “Then from the samovar.” She plopped down in a chair, and Georgi sat down across from her.

“I’ll have hot chocolate,” Georgi said.

Yuri nodded. “That takes a little longer.”

“That’s fine,” Georgi said.

Yuri turned to Yakov. “Do you want anything Yakov?”

“Pirozhki your grandpa’s recipe?”

Yuri nodded. “The best in all of Russia.”

“I’ll take one.”

Yuri nodded again and darted to the kitchen. He made Georgi’s hot chocolate from scratch, and then poured a glass of tea for Mila, and put two pirozhka on two separate plates for Mila and Yakov. He brought everything out, and noticed a few more familiar faces in the café.

Anya had come with her husband Mels, and Otabek was talking to them, so Yuri was able to get Mila, Georgi, and Yakov their orders without getting distracted.

“At least they got married,” Mila was saying.

“I don’t care,” Georgi said, face impassive. “I’m married.”

“To a woman allergic to cats,” Yuri said, placing Georgi’s hot chocolate in front of him. “That would be a deal-breaker if I ever saw one.”

Georgi rolled his eyes. “Good thing that I’m not you.”

“Yeah, Yura, Georgi had enough problems trying to get someone to stay with him; he couldn’t afford to be picky.”

Georgi shot Mila a withering glare. “I didn’t have any problems.”

Sensing an argument, Yuri put down Mila’s tea and the two pirozhka. “I’m gonna go see how Victor and Katsudon are doing.”

The aforementioned couple were still sitting in the same spot, each holding one of the twins on their lap. It really was disgustingly domestic, but still Yuri made his way over.

“How was everything?”

“Absolutely _delicious_ , Yurio,” Victor enthused. “This café was an excellent decision. It’s just a shame that it’s so far from St. Petersburg.”

“I wanted a café in _Russia_ ,” Yuri deadpanned. “But… I’m glad you enjoyed it. Beka and I cooked everything.”

“Really?” Katsudon asked. “It tastes professionally done.”

“Thank you,” Yuri said, not really sure how to handle this non-skating-related praise. “We… mostly used Dedushka’s recipes. He… came earlier, but he needed to get back to work.” He didn’t fully understand why his grandfather continued to work when Yuri was fully capable of providing him with a comfortable life, but he didn’t want to argue with the man.

“Well,” Victor said, “everything was delicious. Right, kids?”

The twins voiced their agreement. Yuri thanked them again and brought them some more tea and a small plate of pryaniki at their request.

He was just glad that the soft opening was going according to plan, and the press still seemed to think that the grand opening was the real opening. The cats were behaving themselves, and Yuri almost didn’t notice when it came time to close the café.

He and Otabek closed up, and refilled the cats’ food before cleaning up.

“I think that went well,” Otabek said, wrapping an arm around his boyfriend’s waist.

“Yeah!” Yuri agreed, pleased. “I’m excited to see how we do next week at the grand opening.”

Otabek reached up and kissed him. “It’ll be fantastic.”

“Beka,” Yuri said, feeling a rush of affection for his boyfriend. “Thank you so much for doing this with me. I mean, I know it wasn’t easy, but…”

“Of course,” Beka replied. “It’s not as if this café means I can’t still work as a DJ, and you know I love Moscow. Besides, this is your dream, and my dream was always to be with you.”

“Fucking sap.”

“Yeah,” Beka agreed, “but I’m your sap.”

“If we ever turn into those two old assholes, please take me out back and shoot me.”

Beka laughed. “I don’t think we have to worry about that, Yura.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1 I gave Yurio a patronymic from his grandfather's name. [return to text]  
> 2 [Pirozhki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirozhki) (singular: pirozhok, 2-4: pirozhka bc I'm stubborn and use the correct russian cases here), [pryaniki (in russian)](https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D1%80%D1%8F%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BA) are a type of Russian gingerbread, [bliny](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blini) (also sometimes called blintzes). [return to text]  
> 3 Dedushka / Дедушка is just Russian for "grandfather". [return to text]  
> 4 Yuuri and Victor totally 100% gave their kids both of their patronymics and both of their last names. The kids' names are Aleksandr Yurievich-Victorovich Katsuki-Nikiforov (Sasha or Sa-chan) and Michiko Yurievna-Victorovna Katsuki-Nikiforova (Misha or Mi-chan). These names are ridiculous and Extra but they are Victor and Yuuri's kids. [return to text]  
> 5 To-san or Oto-san is Japanese for "dad" [return to text]  
> 6 Yuri's cats are named after, in order: Brendon Urie from Panic! at the Disco, Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy, Gerard Way and Frank Iero from My Chemical Romance (I doubled up on MCR because Frank has a new band now that all of the Teen Emos are obsessed with, so naturally Yurio would love Frank, too), Chacha Ivanov (Александр «Чача» Иванов) from НАИВ, Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day, and Tyler Joseph from Twenty One Pilots (a band I don't particularly care for or know much about but a band I know Teen Emos are obsessed with).  
> I'd have put more self-serving names in there but I tried to keep it "pop punk bands Yurio would actually listen to" and not "all of the music i loved at Yurio's age" (so no Good Charlotte or Simple Plan).[return to text]  
> 


	2. 2030. i.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two years after the café opens, Yuri and Otabek have settled into a routine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was initially planned to be a oneshot, then a two-shot, and now it's a... four-shot?? clearly i have self control.

**2030.**

A year in, the cat café started to turn a profit. Two years after they’d opened, they were able to hire some help, and Otabek’s DJing career really took off. He was getting tired of nightclubs, but he was making a hell of a name for himself in the realm of bar and bat mitzvah and wedding DJs. They preferred it this way, especially since it meant Otabek was free to help out at the café, and he loved spending time with his boyfriend during the day.

Besides, while Yuri had grown up a lot from the angry fifteen year old he’d been when they’d first truly become friends, Otabek was doubtlessly better at handling disgruntled customers. Fortunately, there weren’t many of those, but there were the occasional people who tried to bring their own pets into the café, who had to have it explained to them very carefully why that was a bad idea.

Victor and Yuuri still stopped by much more than was probably strictly necessary, especially considering that neither of them had ever lived in Moscow. Yuri pretended not to notice, but Otabek was sure that his boyfriend appreciated their support.

At night, on days when they both worked, they’d close up the café, feed the cats, clean up, and head upstairs. Yuri would be sure to give Pyotya extra attention, but the old cat was still going strong. Otabek would usually cook dinner, as Yuri spent the mornings baking for the café, and they’d discuss their days, and any antics they’d seen in the café that day. 

“God, you know,” said Yura, never taking his eyes off of his boyfriend. “Victor and the other Yuuri yesterday. Their kids are both skating already; I can’t believe they’re that old now. They’re going to be the next generation of JJ Leroy.” 

Otabek laughed. “Doesn’t JJ have kids, too?”

Yura groaned. “I can see it now. Two warring skating dynasties. And you know Victor will be more into it than anyone else.”

“I don’t know,” said Beka. “JJ somehow made _ Hamsters on Ice  _ competitive.” 

“Oh, god, and Chulanont has a swarm of kids, too.” He leaned across the counter and kissed Beka. “I have never been so glad to be out of skating. But we’re  _ going  _ to their competitions, because I want to see Coach Victor against Coach JJ.”

“And they’ll invite us all out for drinks and we’ll have our cat café, so we can just watch their drama unfold.”

Yura laughed. “That’s the dream.” 

They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes until Yuri asked, “Beka?”

“Hm?”

“Do you ever regret not coaching?”

Beka shrugged. “No. I inspired a new generation of Kazakhstani skaters, I won gold - beat you a few times, too, and now I get to live with my incredibly handsome boyfriend upstairs from a cat café we run together in Moscow. I don’t have any regrets, Yura.”

Yuri grinned. “Good. Because I don’t, either.”

Beka grinned back, wishing that moment could last forever.

* * *

A week later, they closed up the café again together, and cuddled up together on the couch after dinner. Yuri was scrolling through Instagram, and found a picture of Yuuri and Victor’s wedding and showed it to his boyfriend. Otabek didn’t think that it was their anniversary, but closer inspection showed it to be a generic memories post. “Your first wedding gig,” Yuri reminded him. 

Beka smiled. “Yeah, that was one hell of a wedding. I think Victor paid me more for that wedding than I’d made my entire career in Juniors.”

Yuri scoffed. “God, but, okay, last week, we were talking about Victor and Katsuki’s kids being insufferable. Can you imagine  _ Victor  _ when they get married? Forget Bridezilla - imagine Victor at his kids’ weddings.”

Otabek hesitated. “If… if they’re smart, they’ll probably never get married.”

Yuri grinned. “God, though. You know, the old man’s badgering me about getting married. Has he bothered you about it?”

“Oh, yeah,” Otabek agreed. “He’s not good at being subtle.”

“I think he’s adopted me,” Yuri confessed.

“It’s possible. Although I’m not sure how Katsuki would feel about that.”

Yuri stretched and then buried his face in Beka’s chest. 

“Have we ever… discussed that?” Beka asked, playing with Yuri’s hair.

“You’ve said you wanted to marry me before, yes,” Yuri said. “Years ago, and I told you you were stupid because we were teenagers.”

“We’re not teenagers anymore,” Beka said. 

“If this is a proposal…”

“It’s not. Although I certainly wouldn’t go to the levels Katsuki went to. But I think… you’re twenty-nine, I’m thirty-two, we’ve been together for over a decade… it’s worth discussing if that’s something you’d want to do.”

Yuri hummed, clearly thinking on it. Beka kept playing with his hair. “You’d have to promise me we wouldn’t turn into Victor and Katsuki.”

“Of course we wouldn’t. I might be a sap, but I don’t think I could ever match up to them.”

Yuri smiled. “All right. Honestly… marriage would be nice. But I wouldn’t want a big wedding. Your family, and my Dedushka, and some of our friends from skating, and Pyotya, and that’s it.”

“That sounds nice,” said Beka. “And, uh… I mean, do you ever… want kids, or anything, Yura?”

Yuri thought on it. “Not now. Maybe later on. I definitely don’t want a baby around Pyotya. And none of this bullshit surrogacy shit. But… adoption, later on, maybe. I don’t have my heart set on it, but if you do…”

“Not particularly,” Beka said, although now that he’d thought of it, Yura would make a fantastic dad. He was already great with Victor and Katsuki’s twins. “So we’ll talk about that later.”

“I don’t want some bullshit giant proposal.”

“Really, Yura,” said Beka, “you act like I don’t know you at all after fourteen years.”

They talked for the rest of the night, and eventually went to bed. Otabek started planning immediately.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yuri calls Yuuri "Katsuki" most of the time (even though it's "Katsuki-Nikiforov" now), but "Katsudon" to annoy him, still. Rarely, he will say "the other Yuuri" when talking about him to his friends (read: Beka, Dedushka, Pyotya, and sometimes Mila).  
> We have a whole Universe planned around these fics, and in them, yes, Phichit and JJ will be present, also with kids. Just not in this particular fic.  
> Hamsters on Ice happened and it was glorious.  
> And if I haven't mentioned it before, in this fic universe, Yuri and Otabek are both Jewish, although they really only celebrate Passover, Chanukah, and the High Holy Days (and even then, not if skating gets in the way). I see them both more as very lax Reform Jews, and Yakov as fully secular. (And in Everything YOI I will ever write, Yuri Plisetsky at the very least will be Jewish, mark my words).


	3. 2030. ii.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there's a proposal.

If he were honest, Otabek had started planning his proposal to Yuri years ago, before they’d even retired from skating. It had changed a lot through the years; initially, Otabek had planned to propose when they moved in together, but then Yuri had decided to skate for another two seasons, and while Victor, Katsuki, and JJ had never seen any problem with being engaged while competing (or, for Victor and Katsuki, being engaged to a competitor), Otabek knew that that wasn’t what Yuri would want.

So he waited, and then he decided to propose after they opened the cat café. But then Otabek realised that, while money wasn’t much of an issue for either of them, they also couldn’t shut down a café with seven cats for a week or two for their honeymoon without someone to watch it. And, frankly, shutting down the café that early for a honeymoon would be bad for business, so Otabek waited.

Two years in, the café was doing much better than either of them had anticipated, and Otabek finally thought the timing was right. He’d planned on trying to delicately broach the topic with Yuri, subtly, so that if Yuri wasn’t ready, he wouldn’t scare him, but Yuri had beaten him to the punch.

And, well, Otabek couldn’t say he blamed him. They’d been dating for twelve years, and living together for four. Things were going better than he’d even dared to hope. The previous two years, they’d even had both of their families over for Passover (even Victor and Yuuri had showed up, somehow), and alternated on all of the other holidays. They’d found their rhythm, and, sure, maybe Otabek had never imagined being with someone else, but he’d also, for half a decade, been damn sure that he’d never succeed in holding Yuri Plisetsky’s attention, either.

And now, well, it was time.

He planned it all out immaculately. There would be no frills or fanciness, but he’d close up the café with Yuri, make pirozhki for dinner, curl up on the couch together, watch _Le Chat du rabbin_ , which had, through the years, become _their_ movie, and he would go to the bathroom and come back during an important scene in the movie, Yuri would turn to him, and Otabek would be there with the rings.

It wasn’t too sappy, and it wasn’t public, two things that he knew Yura wouldn’t like.

But he thought he stood a decent chance.

When the day of the proposal came, everything went wrong. They seldom had bad days at the café, but of _course_ the day Otabek had planned to propose had been bad. Someone had shown up, unannounced, with a dog and thrown a fit when Otabek politely but firmly told them that no other animals were permitted, pointing to the sign clearly displayed outside. The samovar somehow got knocked over, and spilled tea all over everything in the kitchen, including half of the food, which meant they ran out early _and_ had to clean up the mess. One of the cats, Frank (because of _course_ it was Frank) almost succeeded in getting out, where he would have surely been hit by a car.

By the time they closed the café, Otabek counted all of the cats twice, fed them, and went to work on deep cleaning the kitchen. Once it was clean to his measure, and the ruined food thrown out (and what could be salvaged for personal consumption had been salvaged), he trudged upstairs to find Yuri pacing by the door.

Otabek vaguely noticed that his hair was wet; Yuri must have showered. He was in an old t-shirt and sweatpants, and Beka wondered how long it had taken him to clean the kitchen.

“What’s wrong?”

Yuri pulled something out of his pocket and shoved it into Beka’s hands.

Beka looked at it. Oh. Well, no use hiding it, right? “Engagement rings. I had a plan, but… today kind of got away from me.”

“You left them on the sink in the bathroom.”

Oh, right. And he’d let Yuri go upstairs to get a shower as soon as they’d locked the doors…

“We only talked about this a week ago,” Yuri said.

“If it’s too soon…”

Yuri rolled his eyes. “It is in no measure of the words _too soon_. I just can’t believe that I didn’t notice you were planning something!” He paused for thought. “Although at least you didn’t get the same bullshit rings the old men got.”

“Give me a little credit,” Beka huffed.

“Beka, I give you _so much_ credit. I didn’t even _notice_ ; if today weren’t such a fucking shitshow, it would’ve been the best fucking surprise of my life.” He’d stopped pacing, and took two steps over to Beka and kissed him. “ _I_ was trying to think of a plan.”

“And you call me the sap.”

“You _are_ the sap. You had this whole plan… what was the plan?”

Otabek shrugged and told him: a day working together, pirozhki for dinner, watch _Le Chat du rabbin_ on the couch together, and propose.

Yuri grinned. “We can still do that. Why don’t you get in the shower, and I’ll get started on dinner?”

Beka hesitated. “Wait, really?”

Yuri nodded and kissed him. So Otabek got into the shower and cleaned himself up as quickly as possible, changed into the first set of clean clothes he could find (realising too late they were Yuri’s, so the pants were a little bit long on him, but it didn’t really matter), slipped the rings in his pocket, and headed out to the kitchen.

They finished cooking dinner and decided to eat on the couch, watching the movie. “The cat still reminds me of you, Yura,” Beka said.

“Yeah, well, the painter still reminds me of you.”

Beka smiled. “Hey Yura?”

“Hm?” Yuri hummed, mouth full of pirozhki.

He pulled out the rings. “Will you marry me?”

Yuri rolled his eyes and swallowed his food. “Let me finish eating first, asshole.” He took half a second to compose himself, put his plate on the coffee table, and turned to Otabek. “Yes, of course I’ll marry you. But remember: if either of us ever start acting like Victor and Katsuki, the other has to put us out of our misery.”

“Of course,” Beka said. He showed Yuri the ring before sliding it on his finger. The inside was inscribed with _Welcome to the Madness_. “The first time we worked together.”

“Fucking sap,” Yuri said, but he was smiling.

“Well, now I’m your sap forever. You’re stuck with me.”


	4. 2030. iii. (or: telling the family)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which they tell their families (biological and adopted).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please view with the creator style on, because there's some coding in here that'll look funky if you don't!

They knew, really, that while their _families_ wouldn’t mind finding out the next day, Victor and Katsuki (but especially Victor) would _freak_ if they weren’t told as soon as possible. So, rather than retiring to the bedroom as they both _really_ wanted to do, they grabbed Otabek’s laptop (which was, all things considered, much better than Yuri’s), and headed over to Yuri’s grandfather’s apartment, grateful that it was only eight PM.

Yuri’s grandfather answered the buzzer, and they were allowed upstairs.

“What brings you two over so late?” Nikolai asked, although, really, Yuri and Otabek were both sure that he _knew_.

“We got engaged, Ded!” Yuri said, smiling. “We thought you’d want to know. Well, we knew we should tell you before Victor and Katsuki, and we all know Victor will lose his shit if we wait until tomorrow to tell him.”

“Congratulations,” Nikolai said, smiling at the two men in front of him. “Although you’ll forgive me for not being particularly surprised.”

“We didn’t really expect you to be,” said Yuri. “Do you mind if we call Beka’s parents? It won’t be too late, and you should be there, too.”

Nikolai shook his head, so Otabek set up his computer and called his parents on skype. It was now 11:30 in Almaty, but Otabek’s parents picked up.

They were, predictably, also unsurprised, but very happy for them. Otabek called his sister and brother after them, and when that was all said and done, they said their goodbyes and headed home to call Victor and Katsuki. Pyotya met them at the door, and Yuri picked her up while his fiancé (that thought would take some getting used to) set up the computer.

Katsuki picked up almost immediately, and Yuri was relieved that it was just him. Victor would bombard them with questions immediately.

“Hey, guys,” Katsuki said. “What’s up? We were about to turn in…”

“Victor around?” Yuri asked.

Katsuki nodded and turned to call for his Vitenka. Yuri gagged at the thought. “No pet names,” he told Beka. “Beka and Yura’s all we’ve got.”

Beka nodded in agreement.

Victor came onscreen seconds later. “What’s going on over there?”

There was no use beating around the bush, was there? Yuri and Otabek exchanged looks. “Well, since we know how you are,” Yuri said, “we figured we’d tell you tonight rather than get an angry phone call in the morning.”

“You’re engaged!” Victor squealed.

“You didn’t even let me finish,” Yuri huffed.

“But you are engaged, right? Or did Pyotya have kittens?”

Yuri held up a finger. “One, _let me finish, you assholes_.” He held up another finger. “And two, Pyotya is spayed and has been for years.”

“I can’t think of any other reason you’d be skyping us when you know we’re about to go to bed,” Victor said.

“Fine, okay, we’re engaged.”

Victor squealed at such a pitch that Pyotya ran into the other room.

“You’ve scared my cat away, you dumbass.”

“How did it _happen_?”

Yuri sighed and put his head in his hands.

Otabek took this as a sign to tell the story. “Yura and I talked about it last week, but… I’d been planning on proposing for years. So the plan was to close the café together, eat pirozhki for dinner, and curl up watching _Le Chat du rabbin_ together, and then I’d excuse myself to go to the bathroom, and when I came back, I’d strategically interrupt Yura’s favourite scene, so he’d look up at me, and then I’d propose.”

Victor squealed again, but Beka held up a hand. “But today was shit. Lots of things went wrong in the café, including the samovar getting knocked over, so Yura went up to get a shower while I cleaned up, and… he found the rings. So he asked me about it when I got in, and I told him, and then he told me to get a shower, we had dinner, and I interrupted his favourite scene to propose.”

“It’s the one where the Azhkenazi painter who reminds me of Beka punches that one colonialist in the face for being a racist shitbag,” Yuri helpfully supplied.

“Yes, that one. So now we’re engaged.”

Victor and Yuuri had expressions of disbelief on their faces. “That’s _it_?” Victor demanded. “What about the fancy dinner, or the skywriting, or the candles? _Getting down on one knee?_ ”

“We’re not disgusting like you two gross old men,” Yuri said.

In an attempt to placate Victor and Katsuki, Otabek supplied, “I had the rings engraved with _Welcome to the Madness_.”

“ _The first song you skated together!_ ” Victor squealed, apparently appeased.

Yuri and Beka nodded.

“Can we see the ring?” Katsuki asked, clearly as excited as his husband.

Yuri sighed and showed them his hand. The ring was a simple silver band. “I’m not taking it off so you can see the engraving,” he said.

Victor squealed again.

“We… thought you two should know,” said Yuri.

He was looking forward to closing the call, but then Victor and Katsuki’s kids came into the room.

“Papa, To-san, what’s going on?”

“ _Your brother got engaged to Beka_!” Victor squealed, picking Sasha up and twirling him around. There was a thud, and Yuri started.

“Did your… phone fall on the floor? Victor, were you _tweeting_?”

Victor was too busy celebrating to hear.

“Yuuri!” Yuri cried. “Please tell me Victor didn’t tweet anything!”

Katsuki was too busy trying to make Victor be quiet.

Yuri got a text message that answered all of his questions. Or, rather, a series of questions. [1]

Баба Мила  
  
**Сегодня** 21:34  
**Баба Мила:** WAIT WHAT THE FUCK YURA  
  
**Баба Мила:** YOU'RE ENGAGED????  
  
**Баба Мила:** YOU DIDN'T TELL ME???  
  
**Баба Мила:** YURI NIKOLAIYEVICH PLISETSKY!!!!  
  
**Юрий:** fuck. victor tweeted didn't he  
  


He showed his phone to his fiancé. “Victor tweeted.”

Otabek pulled up Victor’s twitter feed on his phone. “Fuck.”

They scrolled past tweet after tweet of Victor congratulating them in virtually every language he knew.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

There was even a reply from Mila.[2]

Yuri shut the laptop with a huff.

“We’ll have to make an announcement now.”

Otabek hesitated. “Why don’t we…. Turn our phones off, we have tomorrow off anyway, and then go to bed.”

That sounded like a good idea to Yuri.

Before he shut his phone off, he got one more message. From Katsuki.

Katsuki  
  
**Сегодня** 21:41  
**Katsuki:** Yuri I'm SO sorry about Vitya tweeting! I swear I didn't know he was doing that and i can tell him to take them down if you want! I told him not to do that again! I'll keep a closer eye on him next time!  
  


Yuri sighed and replied.

Katsuki  
  
**Yurio:** don't have a panic attack. i should've expected victor to do something like that. it's not your fault.  
**Yurio:** i'll deal with mila and everyone else tomorrow. just make sure he doesn't tweet any more tonight.  
  


Then he turned his phone off. “Let’s go to bed, Beka. All this stress, and we haven’t even had engagement sex yet.”

“What a shame,” Beka said, wrapping an arm around Yuri’s waist.

“...We should tell Victor and Katsuki that tomorrow. Then Victor will feel guilty.”

Beka laughed. “Tomorrow.”

“Yeah, tomorrow. For now…” He found Pyotya’s treat bag and left her one. “Let’s get into the bedroom and shut the door before she notices.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1 Баба Мила = Yuri's contact name for Mila Babicheva. The timestamp says "Today, 21:34" (so, 9:34 pm).  
> [return to text]  
> 2 The russian here says: "I thought we were friends, Yura!" [return to text]  
> 
> 
> * * *
> 
> Please let me know if there are errors in the tweets. I'm a native English speaker who speaks German and (more or less) French fluently, and Russian conversationally, but I know no Japanese whatsoever, which is, naturally, a language that google translate fucks up constantly. (And the russian online dictionaries gave me like 5 words for engaged so i'm still not convinced i used the right one).  
> That's it for this fic; as always, extras can be found on my [tumblr](https://xslytherclawx.tumblr.com/), under the [tag](https://xslytherclawx.tumblr.com/tagged/it+started+with+a+cat+caf%C3%A9+universe) for this series.


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